this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, december 21st, 2012. good morning, everybody. good to be with you on this doomsday as it's being called by some. all going well so far. we'll keep an eye on it. i'm terrell brown. more on that a little bit later on this morning. today, though, for sure is the first day of winter, and it sure feels like it for millions of americans. the first snowstorm is pushing east this morning, delivering snow to the great lakes region and heavy rain along the east coast. winter weather advisory are up in 12 stays from the midwest to the northeast. on thursday the nation's heartland took the storm's first punch. in iowa, whiteout conditions caused the 25-car pileup that left two people dead. authorities say drivers on interstate 35 were blinded by blowing snow and couldn't see other vehicles that had stopped or slowed down. the storm also snarling travel not just on the roads, but in the air. about a thousand flights have been grounded and more cancellations are expected.

while that's a relatively low number compared to other storms, this one is hitting at the peak of the holiday travel season. >> i already tried calling this morning, and they said the earliest i could get out is this monday, so i'm just scared with all the delays, everybody is going to get bumped back. >> most of the cancellations affect chicago's airport, including more than 350 there. they're prepared for an influx of stranded passengers. >> we'll be setting up cots and providing amenity kits for passengers. >> it looks like christmas will be white in wisconsin's capital. the blizzard dropped 19 inches of snow on madison. officials there urged drivers to stay off the roads, and at least 25,000 people in the area lost power. >> as the night progresses, as the wind starts roaring and that heavy snow is kind of laying on the lines and then the wind comes along and it's icy, that we are going to have some power outages. >> across the south, the storm

didn't drop snow but delivered powerful winds. it knocked out power to 18,000 customers, toppling trees and peeling roofs off buildings. three red cross disaster relief trucks were destroyed. >> here come grass and limbs and trees and everything flying through the naked, you know, and we got glass and s over the beds. >> the storm is also threatening to leave some stockings unstuffed on christmas morning. the snow and ice disrupted travel on thursday, the busiest shipping day of the year. david bernard, the meteorologist of our station wfor has the latest on the storm's path. >> the big blizzard across the plains is continuing to move east. it's bringing rain to the northeast, but we still have quite a bit of snow moving through the great lakes. however, the trend is going to be for that to gradually wind down over the next 24 hours. let's look ahead to saturday and sunday. big travel weekend right before christmas eve and christmas day. it looks very quiet across the nation. sunshine and dry weather for most places.

there could still be a few lake effect snow showers in the northeast and a bit windy there, but the big cities are going to be dry. the only place that looks stormy, the pacific northwest, it still looks rainy from seattle into northern california, and the higher elevation, they're likely going to kolkts to see quite a bit of rain. otherwise, no major cold outbreaks coming for the foreseeable future. i'm david bernard, cbs news, miami. to the fiscal storm now in washington that's gone from bad to worse. the fiscal cliff negotiations were dealt another setback when a political gamble by speaker john boehner blew up in his face. last night boehner was forced to scrap a plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest americans when members of his own party turned it down. after the vote was canceled, republican house members left the meeting where they were told to go home for the holiday. the white house says it will continue to bargain, but the

dramatic turn of events leaves boehner's leadership in doubt and the budget negotiations up in the air. danielle nottingham with more now from washington. >> reporter: lawmakers were set to plan on house speaker boehner's plan b, but the motion was scrapped when the voting fell short. the speaker designed the bill to prevent automatic tax hikes on people making less than $1 million a year. boehner says it's up to senate democrats and the president to make the next move. >> i did my part. they've done nothing. >> reporter: if congress doesn't act before the end of the year, everyone's taxes will go up, and steep automatic spending cuts will kick in. >> it's very, very, very unfortunate the republicans have wasted an entire week on a number of pointless political stunts. >> reporter: the president also promised to veto the bill. >> it's an exercise in republican vote counting that will not result in anything for american people. >> reporter: lawmakers are expected to head out soon for

the holiday. now there's talk of coming back to capitol hill the thursday after christmas to hammer out a compromise. >> you know, we're right there. >> reporter: the president said he and speaker boehner are just a few hundred billion dollars apart on a deal. >> there is still an opportunity for compromise on a big deal. >> reporter: but both sides still have a way go to line up votes. economists warn going off the fiscal cliff could plunge the country back into a recession. danielle nottingham, cbs news, capitol hill. it was one week ago this morning that gunman adam lanza shot his way into a connecticut elementary school and opened fire. connecticut's governor has declared today an official day of mourning. a moment of silence will be observed at the white house. but the national rifle association is speaking out. it's holding its first news conference since the massacre this morning. marlie hall is in newtown with more. marlie, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, terrell. well, today marks the fifth day

of mourning services in newtown and a full week since the tragedy at sandy hook elementary school, and today the country will stop to remember. at 9:30 this morning, people here in newtown will stop what they're doing and observe a moment of silence to mark the one-week point since a shooter killed 26 people at sandy hook elementary school. but then the church bells will ring again, signifying another funeral for another child. pablo carmona attended the funeral of his friend and fellow boy scout benjamin wheeler. >> i don't really know why he had to die. but it's very sad. >> reporter: catherine hubbard liked to ride horses and allison wyatt wanted to become an artist. >> my husband asked last night he says has this rocked your faith in god, and i said absolutely not, but it's done a few things about my faith in human beings. >> reporter: the outpouring of

love for the families of victims has sparked something new in newtown. something emilie's family found out when they took her body home in ogden, utah. >> a lot of you don't know who she is. a lot of you never met her. >> reporter: robby parker, the father of 6-year-old victim emilie parker, tried to thank the hundreds who showed up for her memorial service. >> i'm so thankful everybody is here. i can't -- >> reporter: emilie parker will be buried at a private funeral service tomorrow. this official day of mourning extends beyond connecticut. states around the country are planning a moment of silence to remember the slain students and faculty. terrell? >> all right. marlie hall in newtown for us this morning. marl marley, thank you so much. david keene, president of the national rifle association, will be bob schieffer's guest on this sunday's "face the nation." one of the two bank robbers

who escaped from a chicago high-rise jail has been captured. the fbi says joseph banks was captured late yesterday in chicago. bavgs and kenneth conley made a daring escape tuesday, making a hole in the wall and used knotted bed sheets to scale 20 stories. conley remains at large. we'll take a quick break. when we come back, doomsday scenario. depending on your interpretation, the mayans predicted the end of the world today. we'll check in on them. i hope they have a party. that's when we come back on the "morning news." round your sympt, ask your gastroenterologist about humira adalimumab. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief, and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma,

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♪ [ male announcer ] campbell's green bean casserole. it's amazing what soup can do [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette you celebrate a little win. nicorette gum helps calm your cravings and makes you less irritable. quit one cigarette at a time. ♪ ♪ yeah. mayans in guatemala performing a last sun ritual on thursday to welcome the start of the new mayan calendar. i think that's how you should do it. celebrate. some believers in the mayan prophesy predicted the end of the old calendar could mean the end of the world today. we're happy to report there's been no sign of an apocalypse, so life goes on, for now.

i hear it could happen at any point today. russian president vladimir putin is brushing aside any medial concerns about a doomsday. he said he expected the end of the world in 4.5 billion years. mr. putin, where did you get that number from? he based his prediction on scientific estimates of when the sun might fade out, which is well beyond any time we might be here, so nothing to worry about for this friday morning. "cbs moneywatch" time now on this friday morning. bad news for blackberry maker and more on the facebook scene. ashley morrison is here with us. good morning to you. a setback in the fiscal talks triggered a selloff overseas. tokyo keys nikkei dropped 1% while hong kong's hang seng sank half a percent. the dow ended 59 points higher in thursday's trading. the nasdaq was up 6 points. research in motion says it lost 1 million blackberry subscribers around the world in the last quarter. the plunge is the first for

blackberry, leaving it with 79 million users. the company's stock plunged more than 10% in after-hours trading after it said it will change the way it charges fee. the new york stock exchange has been sold to intercontinental exchange, a little known rival. the price was $8 billion. that's $3 billion less than what it would have sold for in a proposed takeover last year. the new york stock exchange dates back 220 years, but in recent years, a symbol of u.s. capitalism became a victim of technology and regulatory changes. instagram, the mobile picture-sharing service owned by facebook has bowed to user pressure and has revised its controversial terms of service policy. among them the company said its advertisers could display its photos without paying for them. instagram now says there are no such plans. and facebook has a new way to reach out to others, but it's going to cost you. until now messages sent to people not connected with the

social network would arrive in a folder marked other for so-called less relevant messages. now it's testing a service that charges $1 to guarantee that users' messages send to nonconnected people will arrive in their mailboxes. it would have to be a really important message. >> you're pushing it facebook. my thing is if you want to get a message, you don't send it on facebook anyway. >> that's right. you text. >> like we do, ashley. >> yeah. >> ashley morrison here in new york. have a good weekend. take care. up next in sports, a surprising admission from a u.s. olympian. and you might be smarter than a fifth grader, but do you have more game than this one? but do you have more game than this one? i'm done! "are you a cool mom?" i'm gonna find out. [ female announcer ] swiffer wetjet's pads are better than ever. now they have the scrubbing power of mr. clean magic eraser so you don't have to get down on your hands and knees to scrub away tough, dried-on stains.

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have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind. your local weather in in some cities around the country. new york, rain, 52, miami, 71. chicago, partly sunny, 29. dallas, sunny, 62, partly sunny in l.a., 68 degrees. let's check your national forecast. skies will clear up across the plains in the midwest in the wake of the huge storm. lake-effect snow will extend from lower michigan to new york. heavy rainfall from the pacfic northwest to san francisco. and southern new england will be rain. in sports oklahoma city thunder take their 12-streak winning game to minneapolis to face the timberwolves. check out this ridiculous shot by kevin durand.

he puts the floater off the top of the backboard and it rolls in for the bucket. and he got the foul. minnesota's j.j. berea comes down the cord to give the timberwolves a 99-93 win, snapping their winning streak. three-time olympic track athlete suzy favor hamilton has made a startling admission. she worked last year as a high-priced escort in las vegas. hamilton is considered one of the favored middle-distance runners in u.s. history. the award is named for her. favor hamilton says she coped with marital problems and depression by turning to prostitution. she said, i fully intend to make amends and get back to being a good wife, mother, daughter, and friend. finally a fifth grader is playing with the big kids.

julian newman, just 4'5" inches tall. he starts too. probably helps that his dad is the team's coach. we just want to mention that but rival coaches say this guy can play. look at him. in three games julian is averaging 12 points and 11 assists and somehow two rebounds because who wants to be the punch that blocks a fif grader's shot? right? you don't want to be that guy. good luck to him though. when we come back, a health alert. niacin failed a large study and is said to have harmful side effects. fects. my spaghetti. the acidic levels in some foods can cause acid erosion. the enamel starts to wear down. and you can't grow your enamel back. i was quite surprised, as only few as four exposures a day what that can do to you. it's quite a lesson learned. my dentist recommended that i use pronamel. because it helps to strengthen the enamel. he recommended that i use it every time i brush. you feel like there is something that you're doing to help safeguard against the acid erosion. and i believe it's doing a good job.

and how much rain can you et today.... lawrence karnow is tracking it on hi-def doppler. white-out conditions are stranding people out in the midwest. how that may affecy area travelers who are tryio go home for the holidays. he says, does this rock your faith in god and i said - absolutely not... newtown pays its final resp to the victims of the school shootings. this morning, a moment of silenc,

here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. in washington, partly sunny, 48 degrees. sunny and windy in atlanta, 46. mostly sunny, breezy in st. louis, 40. denver, sunny, 51 and seattle, showers and 44 degrees. the drugmaker merck says its cholesterol drug failed to prevent heart attacks and strokes in a large stuff and as dr. jon lapook reports, merck is recommending that doctors far

and wide stop prescribing it. >> the study looked at a drug called tredaptive, currently used in 43 countries. its main greenlingredient is a n called niacin, which raised so-called good cholesterol or hdl. while tredaptive is not available in the u.s., many prescriptions are prescribed. it was hoped in doing so it would prevent heart attacks and strokes. the study shows it did not prevent those problems. card yol ol' gist dr. steve nissan of the cleveland clinic has spriebed niaspan for years. >> it raised the good cholesterol, lowered the bad, it didn't improve clinical outcome. that is a stunning finding. >> reporter: more than 25,000 patients at high risk for heart problems took part in the study. besides being ineffective for

preventing heart attacks and strokes, tredaptive caused significant side effects. merck, the maker of tredaptive would not recommend what the side effects were. they recommended no new patients start taking the drug but stopped short of saying current patients come off of it. >> it's an agonizing question that physicians around the country and around the world are going to have to deal with with their patients over the next few days and weeks. >> i spoke this afternoon with the chief medical officer of merck to find out what those side effects were, but he would not tell me. he said they were still analyzing the data and had given all the information to the fda, the food and drug administration, and that the full report might not be available until march when they have their cardiology meeting. where does that leave somebody like me who's a practicing physician seeing patients who are still taking niaspan. i don't know what we're supposed to be looking for. doctor jon lapook, cbs news, new york. coming up after your local news on "cbs morning news," charlie rose sits down with the

surviving members of led zeppelin. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." down with the surviving members of led zeppelin. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." my only sunshine ♪ ♪ you make me happy when skies are gray ♪ [ female announcer ] you know exactly what it takes to make them feel better. ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] that's why you choose children's tylenol. the same brand your mom trusted for you when you were young. ♪ how much i love you

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in england in england hundreds gathered at the winter solstice celebrations. it's the shortest day of the year. the crowds also marked the end of the long count cycle of the mayan calendar which some predicted would bring armageddon. while the world for now appears to have dodged the mayan doomsday bullet, there are plenty of people taking no chances. some flocked to a special place in nurky said to be immune from armageddon. holly williams takes us there. >> reporter: nestled among lush green hills, sirin riince with t

cobblestone lanes, as attractive as it is. people believe the virgin mary descended from heaven and they also believe it's the birth place of the greek goddess artemis. it's that positive energy that's now led to even more attention because some believe it will help the village stave off the apocalypse. >> but if argue getten is really upon us and everyone in sirince survives, nobody here is taking it too seriously, including this hotel owner. >> on the 21st of december, all our guests here stay for free. in addition it's my birthday, the 21st of december. >> reporter: you don't believe the world is going to end on your birthday. >> well, the world looks quite solid to me. i don't know. >> reporter: what they are taking seriously in sirince is the business opportunity. they've made a special armageddon wine for the tins of

000 f joorks tens of tens of thousands of visitors they expect to descend on the village before the end of time. it's very drinkable. >> no. ♪ don't say no it's the end of the world ♪ >> reporter: and this souvenir shop owner is selling everything from t-shirts to postcards to doomsday perfume. it's quite strong. >> i mean this kind of opportunity doesn't come always, all the time. so we need to get this chance, you know what i mean? >> reporter: it's not the end of the world every day. >> exactly, exactly. >> reporter: this family from falls church, virginia, heard about this village and decided to visit sirince themselves. >> we were in the area, so we wanted to see it as well. >> reporter: do you believe it though? >> no. >> what do you think, guys? what do you think? >> reporter: for "cbs this morning," holly williams, sirince, turkey. >> that would be the first place

to go. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," we get a live report from chicago's o'hare. also the nra responding to growing calls for gun control laws. we'll get reaction from former mississippi governor haley barbour. and year-end taxes. tips the effect the fiscal cliff can have on your tax return. that and more coming up on "cbs this morning." that's it for this morning. i'm off to find my "end of the world party. appreciate you watching. i'm terrell brown in new york. take care, everybody. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

and i'm michelle griego. tis 4:-- >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald.

it's friday, december 21st and we're all still here. >> i'm brian hackney. >> i'm michelle griego. we have developing news right now in antioch where police are searching for a second suspect after a robbery police chase and this fiery crash. officials say they robbed the bonfair market on tenth street and then they drove off. police chased them and the suspect's car crashed and burst into flames. one suspect was arrested but police are still trying to find the second suspect. heavy rain and wind are on tap this morning. lawrence karnow has the forecast. >> it's a very slow-moving storm system but we are seeing that rain moving into the north bay right now. check that out. you can see the yellows and oranges in the north bay. the rest of the bay area so far it is staying dry. but that's going to change. we have seen those winds ramping up over 30-mile-an-hour gusts along the coastline now and still more to come ast